Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2009. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2009. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia - June 19, 2009
Michael Georgy
* Improved criminal justice system not enough
JOHANNESBURG, June 19 (Reuters) - South Africa must end a culture of male dominance to fight one of the world's highest rates of rape, according to the author of a study in which 28 percent of men interviewed admitted they had raped someone.
Rachel Jewkes, of the South African Medical Research Council (MRC), said overhauling the criminal justice system would not be enough to reduce the number of rapes and that authorities must help do away with macho beliefs driving an AIDS epidemic.
"You are dealing with a problem which is sort of the behaviour of a quarter of the population. You can't address it through punitive measures alone," Jewkes, who heads MRC's Gender and Health Research Unit, said on Friday.
"Fundamentally, rape is a problem that stems from ideas of manhood in South Africa," said Jewkes.
"The position of men is superior to women in a patriarchal society and legitimates men's behaviours towards women, predicated on ideas of sexual entitlement and behaviours that demonstrate men being in control over women."
South African President Jacob Zuma has promised to end abuses against women. A polygamist who has angered women's rights groups, Zuma was acquitted in a rape trial in 2006, when he justified having unprotected sex with an HIV-positive woman by saying he had taken a shower afterwards.
The study, of men in all racial groups and from different socio-economic backgrounds, showed half of those interviewed were under 25 years of age and 70 percent were under 30.
Nearly 10 percent said they had raped a woman or girl for the first time when they were under 10 years old. The HIV prevalence among those who raped was 19.6 percent.
The MRC interviewed 1,738 men in rural and urban areas of the KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape provinces.
RISKY SEXUAL ACTIVITY
There were officially 36,190 rapes in South Africa in 2007-2008 but many crimes go unreported.
Jewkes said the rape cases pointed to a range of risky sexual behaviour in South Africa, where about 12 percent of the population of 47 million people have HIV. About 1,000 people die every day from AIDS-related illnesses.
According to the study, men who said they had raped were more likely to have had more than 20 sexual partners, engaged in sex with a prostitute, raped a man and not used a condom consistently in the past year.
Jewkes said South African culture had left some with the impression that to be real men they need to have scores of partners, they should not be using condoms and can pay for sex.
Aside from ending what she called the machismo of some politicians, Jewkes said authorities must create jobs and educate young men to keep them from committing crimes like rape.
"Trying to change ideas of manhood in South Africa has got to be linked in a practical sense to being able to give men alternative models of how they can be men and how they can be successful and that means improving our education system ... and improving employment opportunities," she said.
But rape should not exclusively be linked to poverty.
"One of the really interesting findings from our research here is it's not the very poorest who are most likely to rape. It's actually men who are not very substantially advantaged but certainly more advantaged than the very poorest category." (Editing by Giles Elgood)
090619
RE090606
Copyright © 2009 - Reuters, Ltd. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Contact Reuters.
AEGiS is a 501(c)3, not-for-profit, tax-exempt, educational corporation. AEGiS is made possible through unrestricted funding from Elton John AIDS Foundation UK, the National Library of Medicine, AIDS Walk of Orange County, and donations from users like you.
Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2009. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.
AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.
Copyright ©1980, 2009. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .